The Philadelphia Flyers named Rick Tocchet as their new head coach on Wednesday.
The Philadelphia Flyers failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024-25. This is certainly a result they wanted to avoid, especially given their collapse the season before. This led the team to fire John Tortorella as their head coach. On Wednesday, they officially named former Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet as his replacement.
Tocchet left the Canucks after parts of three seasons in British Columbia. He helped Vancouver make the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. In fact, they came within a game of the Western Conference Finals. However, they were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.
Tocchet brings a ton of experience to his new role. And his players are looking forward to working with their new bench boss. Veteran defenseman Travis Sanheim, currently playing in the men's IIHF World Championship, spoke on the matter on Thursday.
"Just good interactions, good communicator, easy to talk to ... those were some of the things I came away with," Sanheim said, via Aaron Vickers of NHL.com. "And I've heard nothing but good things about him from guys that have had him. Super excited to get to see what he's all about as a head coach."
"He's won before. Excited to get going with him and see what he's all about in a head-coaching role and try to take that next step forward that our team is trying to do here over the next couple of seasons," Sanheim continued.
Tocchet is an accomplished coach at the NHL level, as Sanheim alluded to. Most notably, he served as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2015 to 2017. During that time, he won two Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
Beyond his coaching experience, the new Flyers bench boss knows the grind of the NHL. He spent 18 seasons in the league, playing in more than 1100 games. The vast majority of these seasons were spent in Philadelphia. Tocchet scored 232 goals and 508 points for the team across 11 seasons.
"I've always been a Flyer at heart and have taken that passion and energy that embodies this city and organization with me throughout my career," Tocchet said of his move to Philadelphia, via the Flyers official website. "I want to thank Danny Briere, Keith Jones and Dan Hilferty for this honor and opportunity. I couldn't be more excited to lead this team back among the NHL elite where we belong. We have a lot of work to do and much to accomplish, but I am confident in the direction we are heading and determined to get us there."
The best players in a sport are not always the best coaches. For instance, Wayne Gretzky is widely considered the best player in NHL history. However, he did not fare too well in his stint as head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes.
Playing experience does allow a coach to connect with his players, though. The coach understands what each player is going through year after year. After all, he went through similar trials before their time.
"He gets it, I'm sure. It means something to put that jersey on. The city loves their hockey. They love their sports in general. You've got to show up to play every night, and I think that's something that he brought and he's going to instill in the team," Flyers forward Travis Konecny said, via Vickers.